


The Wounded Tree

by cathcer1984



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bully Jackson Whittemore, Creeper Peter Hale, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Werewolf Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:36:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29772813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cathcer1984/pseuds/cathcer1984
Summary: Stiles' dad is dating Talia Hale, the joint family dinner takes a strange turn when little Cora Hale leads Stiles into the woods to fix the wounded tree.It all just gets stranger from there.
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 24
Kudos: 370





	The Wounded Tree

**Author's Note:**

> So this happened. I don't know how or why or what this even is. 
> 
> But this is my 100th Teen Wolf fic! Yay! 
> 
> Enjoy.

Stiles knows what he likes and doesn't like. He's almost eighteen, it's pretty much set in stone now. He likes Cheetos and video games. Stiles likes Lydia Martin and he likes Scott, in very different ways, Scott's his brother from another mother and Lydia is perfection in human form. Stiles likes Wikipedia binges and solving things.

He doesn't like homework, Jackson Whittemore or basketball. Stiles doesn't like many things, in fact, but there is one thing Stiles absolutely hates above anything else he can think of. And that is Derek Hale. 

Derek Hale is captain of the basketball team. He's brash, arrogant and full of himself. His parents practically own the town, well his mom does. Talia Hale is the mayor and the family have owned many businesses in town. Derek thinks he's some sort of Beacon Hills royalty. 

Stiles hates him. It's not because Derek's a bully, he's just an idiot that stands to the side when Jackson and his cronies bully Scott and Stiles. The stupid idiot even thinks it's funny to see Jackson, Ethan and Aiden throwing Scott's inhaler around as he sits on the floor wheezing in big gulps of air. 

And Stiles is usually the one in detention for his physical attacks on Jackson, Ethan and/or Aiden. He hits, punches and launches himself at them to get Scott's inhaler so his best friend doesn't die. 

All the while Derek Hale watches on, dopey grin on his stupid fucking face. There's that saying, that in any situation the worst you can do is nothing, and there only person Stiles knows that embodies that wholeheartedly is Derek Hale. And Stiles _hates_ him. 

So when his dad sits Stiles down to tell him that he's been seeing someone and they want to have a big family dinner. Stiles is not expecting it to be Talia Hale and he is not looking forward to sitting down to a family meal with Derek fucking Hale. 

"Please, kiddo. For me, give this a chance." 

With a sigh and a roll of his eyes Stiles nods at his dad, pretending not to see the relief on the sheriff's face. "Fine. But if it goes to shit, don't blame me."

"Language." The sheriff smiles tiredly, "though if it does go to shit I'll get to the bottom of who to blame." 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're the best policeman in the county blah blah blah." Stiles laughs as his dad throws a cushion at him. "When and here is this hell dinner taking place?" 

"Friday night. At Talia's, she's offered to cook." John says with a soft smile. 

"Cool, cool, cool." Stiles yawns, "I'm gonna head to bed pops."

"Night, kiddo. I love you."

"Love you too dad." Stiles is halfway up the stairs when he realises that Friday is tomorrow. Fuck. 

*

Late Friday afternoon sees Stiles and his dad in the sheriff's cruiser heading through the woods to the Hale house. 

When they pull up outside the house, they sit in the car for a moment before his dad starts to move. "When she said family dinner, I guess she meant all of her family." Stiles says as he shuts the cruiser door. Parked in front of the house is Derek's stupid camaro, Laura's (Talia's eldest child) motorbike, Talia's sensible but fancy 'mom car' and a Porsche. 

"Be nice Stiles." Dad warns. 

"I mean, even creeper Peter is here." Stiles flings a hand at the Porsche. "Like, what the fuck?" 

"Stiles." The sheriff just sounds exasperated now. 

Stiles bites his lip and picks at the skin around his nails. "Sorry, I'm just nervous. There's only two of us compared to seven hundred of them." 

His dad puts an arm around Stiles' shoulders and pulls him in close for a hug. "How many, son?" He chuckles and Stiles pushes at him weakly. 

"You know what I mean, dad. We're outnumbered." Stiles means that _he's_ outnumbered. 

"It'll be okay, just give it a chance." They reach the steps and his dad pulls away, striding up them, knocking firmly on the door. It opens almost instantly to reveal Talia her face goes from pinched to happy the moment she sets eyes on Stiles' dad. It's kind of cute and totally gross. 

They greet each other with a short kiss before Talia is pulling away to beam at Stiles. "I'm so glad you came, Stiles." 

"Yeah. Uh, thanks, for the invite."

The sheriff rolls his eyes, and Talia just puts her hand on his shoulder. "John," she sounds both fond and warning. "You're welcome Stiles. Come on in, both of you." 

Stiles follows them in and toes off his shoes after he sees his dad do the same. Their shoes look out of place next to the neat well kept rack of Hale family shoes. Stiles is overwhelmed by a crippling level of self-doubt and not being good enough. Talia puts a hand on his arm drawing his attention out, rather than focusing on his internal monologue. "Everyone's in the living room, just there. John, I've got a bottle of wine in the kitchen for you to open." 

Watching his dad go with her, Stiles waits until they've disappeared down the hallway presumably to the kitchen before he heads to the room Talia pointed out. 

As soon as he enters four pairs of eyes are on him. "Hey," Stiles gives a stupid wave. 

Derek Hale rolls his eyes and goes back to texting on his phone. Laura snorts and ignores him. Creeper Peter stares at Stiles with half a smirk on his face and little Cora, who's ten waves back. "You're Mr Sheriff's son." 

"Yeah, I'm Stiles." 

"I'm Cora." She rubs her nose. "Do you like trees?" 

"Sure." Stiles shrugs, he feels uncomfortable with Peter and Laura staring at him and he is determinedly not looking anywhere near Derek fucking Hale. 

"Will you help me?" Cora stands. "No one else will. I need some help with a tree." 

"Lead the way." Stiles smiles widely at her as she grins at him. Anything is better than being in this suffocating room, even doing some tree stuff with a ten year old. 

Cora skips out the room, Stiles follows her quickly. They put on their shoes and they're out the door, Cora leads the way. She doesn't talk much but that's okay, Stiles does. 

"So what's up with this tree? Has it got a name? Do we have to climb it? I climbed a tree once, I was about your age, broke my leg. It was not a great time, summer, you know. Hot cast, my leg got so fucking itchy and oh shit. Fuck. Shit. Sorry. I'm so sorry, you did not hear those words from me." 

A giggle escapes Cora as she turns to wink at him, "nope. Derek says them too. And Laura. And Uncle Peter." 

"So why is Uncle Peter at this dinner?" Stiles asks, he glances around but doesn't recognise anything. All he can see is trees, Cora seems to know exactly where she is going though which is some comfort.

"Cause he's family. He told mom that he's got to be here because it's important. And they had a big argument and Uncle Peter won." Cora pauses. She turns to face Stiles and he almost walks into her, there's a frown on her face "why do you think Uncle Peter's a creeper?"

"What? I didn't say that." Stiles _knows_ he didn't say that in front of her. 

Cora's cheeks turn red. "Whoops." She hurries away, fast, and Stiles scrambles to keep up. 

*

Soon enough they're in front of a tree that looks like all the other trees in the forest except it's got a big gash in it's truck, dark red sap seeping out like blood from a wound. 

"Oh dear." Stiles lays a hand on the tree and he'd swear he can feel it's relief. But it's just a tree. A big tree, mind you, but nonetheless just a tree. 

"It's hurt. It's got a big injury and I can't reach it to help." Cora says sadly. 

Stiles sees she's taking this very seriously, there's a stillness in the air and he dare not make fun of this. "What do you suggest we do?" 

"We have to bandage it." Cora rolls her eyes. "Obviously." 

"Oh sure, obviously." Stiles starts rooting around the ground. 

Cora stares at him like he's an alien, "what are you doing?" 

"Looking for moss, it'll be a natural bandage to help seal the wound." He pauses when he sees the expression on Cora's little face, "why? Do you have a different idea?"  
Her hand dips into the pocket of her jacket and she pulls out a box of Disney princess bandages. "I brought these. They help me feel better when I get hurt. I thought they could help the tree."

"That's a fantastic idea!" Stiles grins. "How about we get some moss and use your bandages to stick it in place and help our tree friend heal. Sounds like a deal?" 

Cora thinks for a moment then holds out her hand, "deal." They shake and break apart to start looking for moss. Soon enough, their hands are filthy and so is Cora's top as she holds the moss close to her chest. It's gotten dark so Stiles uses his cellphone to light the tree and it's awkward but together they patch the gash with moss and Disney princess bandages. It looks ridiculous but Cora is very happy. 

"There we go. Good job done." Stiles holds his hands up for a high five. Cora slaps it. "We should head back, but good night tree, I hope you feel better soon." 

"Bye tree!" Cora calls and she takes off into the dark forest. 

"Cora!" Stiles shouts, waving his phone light to see where she is. "Where are you? I can't see - oh. There you are." Cora comes back and holds out her hand. "Yeah that seems like a good idea." He grips tight to her slippy fingers and lets her lead the way through the trees. 

* 

They're making steady progress but it's getting colder and darker and Cora's hand tightens in Stiles'. She's getting scared, he thinks, and the light from his phone isn't doing much to penetrate the darkness. 

"Ah!" Stiles yells, and Cora lets out a scream as a figure lurches towards them from behind a tree. "Jesus!" Stiles hunches over and glares at Derek. 

"What the fuck do you think you're fucking doing, Stilinski? Do you fucking know what fucking time it is?" 

Stiles is angry that he's being blamed when everyone in that living room knows it was Cora who asked Stiles to come. He glares at Derek then shifts to see Cora with her mouth wide open as she watches her brother. 

"You're right, Cora, Derek does use the f-word. Derek uses the f-word a lot."

"Fuck. I mean shit." Derek glares at Cora and practically growls at her, "don't you dare tell mom about this!" He even points a finger in her face and when Cora's lip starts to wobble Stiles gets indignant on her behalf. 

"Uh, I'm gonna tell mom about this."

Derek whirls on him, finger still pointing, "she's not your mom." There's an ugly sneer on Derek's face that is reminiscent of Jackson Whittemore. "Unlike yours, my mom is alive." 

Never one to pull his punches in a verbal fight Stiles lashes out. "At least my mom didn't choose to leave me." Everyone in town knows the story of how, eight years ago, Andrew Hale left his house, his three kids and his wife and never came back. Not many people know that Talia filed a missing persons report and Stiles' dad had to be the one to tell her that Andrew was safe and sound three states over. 

Derek lets out a loud yell, that's practically a roar. Cora squeezes Stiles' hand and then all Stiles can feel is pain and warmth gushing down his face. Derek broke his nose. Cora starts to cry. Stiles feels like crying too. 

That's when Peter comes crashing through the trees. His eyes sweep over the scene. He scoops Cora up to his chest and carries her on his hip even though she's almost certainly too big. Peter doesn't say anything to Derek, as his free hand comes up to rest on the back of Stiles' head, tipping it forward so the blood rushes down over his mouth and onto his shirt. 

It's hard not to retch, but Stiles manages it. Barely. 

He lets Peter guide him all the way to the warm lights of the Hale house. 

"Stiles!" John shouts.

Tearing himself away from Peter's strangely comforting grip, Stiles stops in front of his dad, letting the sheriff take a good look at him. Stiles sees the helpless look on his dad's face and can't help the vindictiveness that rises in him. "You wanna try telling me again how Derek Hale _isn't_ a bully."  
Stiles stomps passed his dad to fling himself into the front seat of the cruiser. He doesn't look up, soon enough his dad is sliding into the front seat. 

It's a quiet drive back to town. "We're going to get you checked out by Melissa, at least." 

"Okay." 

"Stiles," his dad sighs. "I didn't know. About Derek. If I'd known you were bullied by him I would never have-" 

Hating the way his dad sounds, Stiles reaches out and puts a hand on his thigh. His dad grips it briefly. "Derek's not that bad. It's mostly Jackson, Ethan and Aiden. Derek just stands around letting it happen. They take Scott's inhaler." Stiles says quietly. "My best friend could die and they think its fucking funny." 

"That's not funny, son. That's not even remotely amusing." Stiles' dad wipes a hand down his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't see this happening. I've not been a very good parent, have I?"

"You do okay, dad." Stiles gives his dad a small smile. "We do okay." 

*

On Monday, when Stiles drives into school he's dreading the day more than usual. Stiles sees himself in the rear-view mirror and grimaces, he has two black eyes from where Derek punched his nose (luckily it wasn't broken and Melissa just popped it back into place and shoved a bag of frozen peas on it). 

"Stiles!" It's Scott. "How's the nose?" 

"It's okay, aches like fuck though." Stiles goes to say something else but gets shoved forward by a shoulder in his back. 

It's Jackson, of course. He turns to sneer at Stiles, and pauses "what happened to your face?" 

"None of your fucking business, Jackass." Stiles grabs Scott by the arm and they hurry away. 

Stiles doesn't see Derek until gym. Derek grimaces when he sees Stiles but looks away pointedly. Scott's sitting this one out (he has to spend the lesson in the library) because it's a cross-country run and his asthma is too bad to allow him to do it. Doctors orders. So Stiles has to run this alone. 

The teacher blows his whistle and they're off. It's a big huddle of students. It's messy and someone's elbow connects with Stiles' nose. He hears Jackson's snickering laughter and Ethan and Aiden high five as Stiles tumbles to the floor holding his face in pain. 

Blood drips between his palms and a warm hand settles on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" 

It takes a moment to place the voice through the pain. "Fuck off, Hale." Stiles snarls and he staggers to his feet away from Derek. 

"Bilinski! Straight to the nurse's office. I don't want any more blood on my floor."

Stiles stomps away as Derek takes off following the rest of the class. His face hurts and Stiles wants to cry, it's not fucking fair. He thinks his nose is definitely broken this time. He's sure it didn't hurt this much when Derek punched him. 

The main office, where the nurse's room is held comes into sight and it's so close. Stiles hurries up, he hopes he can get some painkillers and ice and maybe go home and hide in his bed for the rest of the day. 

"Stiles?" 

He glances up and blinks in shock, hands falling away from his face. "What are you doing here?"

Creeper Peter grins. "I have a meeting with the principal." His eyes follow the dripping of Stiles' blood from his nose to the palms of his hands cupped under his chin. "Did my nephew do this to you?"

"Nah." Stiles shakes his head and winces, as it increases the pain. "Bad idea, holy shit, don't move." 

"Come on." Peter puts his hand on the back of Stiles' neck as he had done on Friday night. "Let's get you to the nurse." 

Stiles walks alongside Peter. "Why are you helping me?" 

"I like you Stiles. There's something about you." Peter sounds both sincere and creepy as fuck. Stiles is torn, there's something incredibly comforting about the older but also, very disconcerting. 

Peter takes him to the nurses room and makes sure Stiles is settled with an ice pack and painkillers before he strides out the room. 

*

In a haze of pain Stiles has no idea how long it's been but Peter's back. He's talking rapidly to the nurse and looks weird with Stiles' backpack slung over his shoulder. 

"Stiles." It's the nurse, "Mr Hale is going to be taking you home. I've checked with your dad, he's away from the office. Says it's okay with him, if you're alright with it?" 

Bleary eyed and aching, Stiles nods which hurts more. "Yeah. Yeah. I want to go." 

Peter comes closer then, and helps Stiles stand. He thanks the nurse and guides Stiles out the room, the building and towards his car. "In you get," Peter murmurs. Stiles slides into the stupidly fancy car. 

"Shit." 

"What's the matter?" 

"I don't want to get blood on your seats." 

A dark chuckle has Stiles staring at Peter incredulously. Peter shrugs, "there have been worse things on this upholstery than your blood. Don't worry about it." 

Stiles settles back and closes his eyes. He doesn't fall asleep but the pain seems to ease with every brush of Peter's hand over his shoulder, on his neck or his knee. 

The car ride is quiet. Stiles doesn't feel the need to talk and Peter seems inclined to let him have the silence. Strangely, Stiles doesn't feel the need to fidget or pull at his nails. There's something about Peter that quiets his mind. It's disconcerting but at the same time it's a feeling Stiles doesn't want to lose. 

"We're here." Peter says, voice gentle. 

Blinking his eyes open Stiles sits up, and stares at the trees and the small but fancy house, all modern and sleek lines.

"This is not my house." 

Peter chuckles. "No, Stiles. It's mine."

Looking from the house, to Peter, to the interior of the car Stiles gapes. "What the fuck do you do?" 

"I'm an architect. Your principal wants me to design a new auditorium, for free." He says it with such disgust. 

"You're not going to do it." 

"Not for free. Just because my sister is the mayor and her boyfriend is the sheriff does not mean I am doing my job without pay. For fuck's sake do you know how hard it is to do my job?"

Stiles can't help but laugh, Peter sounds petulant and it's as adorable as it is amusing. Peter watches him with a predatory gleam in his eyes which makes Stiles shuffle around and get out the car. 

He pulls his phone out his pocket and sees there's a text from his dad. 

**Peter Hale will take you home. Let me know you're okay. We'll talk about this when I get back. Love you.**

Stiles sends back: _I'm at Peter's. I'm okay. Love you too, stay safe_. 

When he looks back up Stiles sees that Peter has opened the front door and is already inside. Stiles goes to follow him but something catches his attention out the corner of his eye. When he looks he sees, in all the trees around Peter's house, there is one that stands out. It's the one he and Cora bandaged up on Friday. 

Stiles makes his way over to it. The plasters are mostly still there, some are peeling off, a couple are on the ground. Stiles picks those up, scrunching them before pocketing them. The tree's wound seems to be a lot better, or perhaps it's the light. 

Reaching up to run his fingers over the edge of the moss filled crack, Stiles can almost feel the tree shivering under his touch. It's a ridiculous notion but Stiles would swear he felt it. The leaves of the tree rustle and move around yet there's no breeze moving Stiles' hair or clothes. "What the fuck." Stiles murmurs.

"It's a nemeton." 

Turning quickly Stiles sees Peter standing almost a foot behind him, he must have moved very quietly over the leaves and twigs, Stiles never heard him coming. 

Peter's eyes never move from Stiles' face as he steps closer, so close their chests brush. "You've heard that word before, haven't you, Stiles?" 

Licking his lips, Stiles nods. "My mom said it a lot before she died." 

"And you looked it up." 

"I couldn't find it anywhere." Stiles frowns, "eventually I forgot about it." 

Peter smirks, "no you didn't."

"No, I didn't." Stiles admits, "but I did stop actively thinking about it when I found nothing." 

"You were a child. You didn't have the right books to look in, didn't know the right people to ask." Peter inclines his head slightly. "And you were grieving." 

Turning back to the tree Stiles places a palm flat on its trunk. "So what's a nemeton?" 

Over his shoulder Peter's hand comes to rest next to Stiles', his thumb brushing Stiles' pinky finger. Peter's chest presses against Stiles' back as he cages Stiles in. "A nemeton is the sacred meeting site for Druids, it's where they do their sacrifices. It marks the place where telluric currents cross. A nemeton is a beacon for the supernatural." Peter pauses, as if expecting Stiles to react. "Our nemeton is healthy, but wounded. It hasn't had the proper emissary to look after it. Not for ten years." 

"My mom." 

"Sort of." 

Stiles looks over his shoulder, Peter's face is so close to his, it makes Stiles' cheeks heat up and he looks away from Peter's knowing blue eyes. "She should have been Talia's emissary. Talia chose the Druid, Deaton." 

"The vet?" Stiles can't help interrupting. "Seriously, Peter? The vet?"

Peter laughs. "Yes, Stiles, the vet. Claudia should have been tethered to the nemeton and the Pack, she wasn't and I'm sorry, but she went insane." 

Stiles stiffens. "Fuck." He drops his hand from the tree, feeling icy cold. "Will that happen to me?" 

"It might." Peter brings both his hands to cup Stiles' cheeks to force Stiles to look at him. "You need to be tethered to the nemeton and to the Pack." 

"Through Talia?" Stiles pulls a face. 

Shaking his head, Peter whispers "not Talia." 

"You." 

"Yes." Peter purses his lips then adds, "if you want. It can be anyone in the Pack. But I'd like it to be me." 

"Pack of what?" Stiles holds his breath, almost afraid of the answer but not at all afraid of Peter. Even when Peter's face changes and his eyes shine bright blue and his mouth is filled with fangs. "Werewolves." Stiles' whispers. 

Peter changes back to human seamlessly and he drops his hands from Stiles' face. "Yes. You have some time to think about this." He says _this_ but Stiles knows he means _me_. "Talk to you dad, he knows. Stiles, we're not here to hurt you. We can help." 

"Do I have to have sex with you?" 

"Only if you want to." Peter moves superhumanly quick so Stiles is pushed back against the nemeton and Peter is pressed against his front. His mouth settles over Stiles' ear as he whispers, "I won't take what isn't freely given, but sweetheart, you belong with me." Peter draws his nose down Stiles' jaw line. 

He's seventeen, Stiles hasn't seen this much action in ever, okay. He can't help that his dick is interested. That _he's_ interested. Peter Hale may be a creeper but he's fucking hot too. 

"Peter!" 

The interruption is unwelcome and sudden. Stiles jumps in surprise and Peter is too slow to move out the way, he gets Stiles' chin in his eye. Peter squints and rubs his eye as he steps back to face his sister. 

Talia glares at them both. "Stiles get inside." 

"Excuse me?" 

"I must apologise for my family. My son has been awful to you, my daughter got you lost in the woods and now my brother is half-way to molesting you." 

"Now, now, Talia. Let's not get carried away." Peter puts his hands in his pocket. "I won't do anything until he says 'yes'. I might be a werewolf but I'm not a monster." 

Talia's eyes almost bug out her head. " _He knows._ " 

"Of course he does. I don't know what John told you about his son, but Stiles isn't an idiot. He can put two and two together." 

"And he's come up with five."

Stiles grins, "that's not mathematically impossible. Two plus two _can_ equal five, with the right application of... okay shutting up now." Stiles says when he catches sight of the look on Talia's face. 

She sighs and takes a step to the side. "Stiles, honey, you're coming with me. Peter, you're going to stay here." Her tone brooks no argument so Stiles does what he's told. 

* 

It's midnight when Stiles sneaks out. Well, sneaks out is a stupid thing really when he uses the front door. His dad is staying at Talia's for the night, and isn't that just weird? 

They'd had a long talk about werewolves, mom and Peter Hale. It had been emotional and uncomfortable. Stiles has been told of some of the Pack's workings. Like how Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are Peter's night to patrol the territory. 

It takes Stiles about half an hour to get to Peter's place. It's dark and locked up, but it's nothing for Stiles to pick the lock. He lets himself in and stumbles over the rug as he tries to find the light switch. Once he can se Stiles finds Peter's bedroom, it's at the end of the house and there's a wall of windows which look out over the forest, central to the view is the nemeton. 

Peter comes sauntering into his bedroom to find Stiles standing before the windows. "Well, well, well, this is a surprise." 

With a smirk, Stiles catches Peter's gaze so the other man knows how serious he is. "Yes." 

**Author's Note:**

> [I'm on tumblr](https://cathcer1984.tumblr.com/)
> 
> If I need to add anything else to the tags please let me know.
> 
> Unbetad.


End file.
